1. لك بالمعالي رُتبة تختارُها

    فافخر فأَنتَ فخارُنا وفخارُها

    You have among lofty honors a rank of your choosing.

    So take pride: you are our pride and the pride of those heights.

  2. يا ساعدَ الدِّين القويم وباعَه

    لَحَظَتْكَ من عين العُلى أنظارها

    O forearm and reach of the upright faith,

    from the eye of eminence, its glances have regarded you.

  3. لله أَيَّةُ رفعةٍ بُلّغْتَها

    قَرَّتْ وليس بغيرك استقرارها

    By God, what an eminence you have been raised to!

    It has settled, and in none but you does it find repose.

  4. في ذروة الشَّرف الرَّفيع مقامها

    وعلى أهاضيب العُلى أوكارها

    Its station is at the summit of lofty honor,

    and its nests are on the plateaus of eminence.

  5. فلتَهْنَ فيك شريعة قد أصبَحتْ

    وعليك ما بين الأَنام مدارها

    May the sacred law rejoice in you, for now

    its course among humankind revolves around you.

  6. ولقد ملأْتَ الكون في نور الهدى

    كالشَّمس قد ملأَ الفضا أنوارها

    You have indeed filled the universe with the light of guidance,

    like the sun, whose rays have filled the expanse.

  7. وكشفْتَ من سرِّ العلوم غوامضاً

    لولاك ما انكشَفَتْ لنا أسرارها

    You have uncovered obscurities in the secrets of the sciences,

    whose mysteries, but for you, would never have been revealed to us.

  8. يا دوحةَ الفضل الَّذي لا يجتنى

    إلاَّ بنائل جوده أَثمارها

    O spreading tree of excellence, whose fruits cannot be gathered

    except through the gifts of its bounty.

  9. الله أكبر أَنت أكبر قدوة

    لم تعرف الثقلات ما مقدارها

    God is greatest! You are the greatest exemplar,

    whose stature the weighty beings have never fathomed.

  10. ولتسمُ فيك المسلمون كما سمتْ

    في جدّه عدنانُها ونزارها

    May the Muslims rise through you, as rose

    their Adnan and Nizar through his forefather.

  11. من حيث أنَّ لسانه صمصامُها ال

    ماضي وإنَّ يراعَهُ خطَّارُها

    For his tongue is their unbending sword—

    keen-edged—and his pen their brandished spear.

  12. فردٌ بمثل كماله ونواله

    لم تسمح الدُّنيا ولا أعصارها

    A peerless man, whose equal in perfection and bounty

    neither the world nor its ages has ever produced.

  13. دنياً بها انقرض الكرام فأَذنبت

    فكأنَّما بوجوده استغفارها

    A world in which the noble vanished, and so it sinned;

    so his existence seems its plea for forgiveness.

  14. وكأَنَّما اعتذرت إلى أبنائها

    فيه وقد قُبِلَتْ به أعذارها

    It is as though it apologized to its children

    through him, and through him its excuses were accepted.

  15. أَمُؤمّلاً نَيْلَ الغنى بأَكُفِّه

    يُغنيك عن تلك الأَكُفِّ نضارها

    O you who hope to gain wealth through his hands,

    their gold leaves you in no further need of those hands.

  16. بَسَطَتْ مكارمُه أَنامِلَ راحةٍ

    تجري على وُفَّاده أنهارها

    His noble gifts have spread the fingers of a palm

    whose rivers flow over those who come to him.

  17. أَحرارنا فيما تنيل عبيدُها

    وعبيدُه من سيبه أحرارها

    Our free men are that hand's slaves for what it gives,

    while his slaves, through his bounty, are its free men.

  18. هاتيك شِنْشِنَة وقد عُرِفَتْ به

    لم تقضِ إلاَّ بالنَّدى أوطارها

    That is a trait by which he has long been known;

    it has fulfilled its desires only through generosity.

  19. كم روضةٍ بالفضل باكرها الحيا

    فزهتْ بوابل جوده أزهارها

    How many a garden the rain has visited at dawn with bounty,

    its flowers flourishing beneath the downpour of his generosity.

  20. هو دِيمةٌ لم تنقطع أنواؤها

    وسحابةٌ لم تنقشعْ أمطارها

    He is a gentle, lasting rain whose rainy seasons never cease,

    and a cloud whose showers never disperse.

  21. أحيا ربوعَ العلم بعد دروسها

    عِلْماً وقد رَجَعَتْ لها أعمارها

    He revived the dwellings of learning after their effacement,

    with knowledge, and their lifetimes have returned to them.

  22. وكذا القوافي الغرّ بعد كسادها

    رَبحَتْ بسوق عكاظه تجارها

    So too the radiant verses, after their market slump:

    their traders have profited in his Ukaz market.

  23. حَمَلَتْ جميل ثنائه ركبانها

    وتحدَّثت بصنيعهِ سمَّارها

    Their riders have carried beautiful praise of him,

    and their evening storytellers have spoken of his beneficence.

  24. ورَوَتْ عن المجد الأَثيل رواتها

    وتواتَرَتْ عن صحَّة أخبارها

    Their narrators have related deep-rooted glory,

    and their reports have come in reliable succession.

  25. فضلٌ يسير بكلِّ أرضٍ ذكرُه

    وكذا النجوم أَجلُّها سيَّارُها

    An excellence whose renown travels through every land,

    as the greatest stars are those that wander.

  26. وله التصانيف الحسان وإنَّها

    قد أسفَرَتْ عن فضله أسفارها

    His are the beautiful writings, and indeed

    their volumes have revealed his excellence.

  27. هي كالرِّياض تفتَّحت أزهارها

    أو كالحِسان تفكَّكتْ أزرارها

    They are like gardens whose flowers have opened,

    or like beauties whose buttons have come undone.

  28. تبدي من المخفيّ ما يُعيي الورى

    وتحير عند بروزها أفكارها

    They reveal hidden things that confound humankind,

    whose thoughts are bewildered when those things emerge.

  29. لا زالَ خائضُ ليلها في ثاقب

    من فكرة حتَّى استبان نهارها

    He who plunged into their night stayed immersed in piercing

    thought until their daylight became clear.

  30. مصبوبة من لفظه بعبارة

    يحلو لسامع لفظها تكرارها

    Poured forth from his speech in language

    whose repetition delights the hearer of its words.

  31. لو كانَ مالُكَ مثل عِلْمكَ لاغتدت

    من مالِكَ الأَرضون أو أقطارها

    If your wealth equaled your learning, they would breakfast

    on your wealth—the lands, or their regions.

  32. ولقد شملت المسلمين بنعمةٍ

    كُفَّار نعمةِ ربِّها كُفَّارها

    You have encompassed the Muslims with a blessing;

    those ungrateful for it are ungrateful for its giver's bounty.

  33. قرَّتْ عيونُ الدِّين فيك وإنَّما

    حُسَّاد فضلك لا يقرّ قرارها

    The eyes of faith find joy in you; only

    those who envy your excellence can find no rest.

  34. راموا الوصول إلى سعاد سعودها

    فنَأَتْ بهم عنهم وشطَّ مزارها

    They sought to reach the Su'ad of its good fortunes,

    but she withdrew with those fortunes from them, and her dwelling grew remote.

  35. تختار لذَّات الكمال على الهوى

    تلك المشقَّة قلَّ مَنْ يختارها

    You choose the pleasures of perfection over desire;

    that is a hardship few would choose.

  36. فإذا نثرتَ فأَنتَ أَبلغُ ناثِرٍ

    نظَّام لؤلؤ حكمةٍ نثَّارها

    When you compose prose, you are the most eloquent prose writer,

    stringing and scattering pearls of wisdom.

  37. رسائلٌ أين الصّبا من لفظها

    الشَّافي وأَين أريجُها وعَرارُها

    Epistles—what is the east breeze beside their diction,

    so healing; and what are its fragrance and arar blossoms?

  38. خَطٌّ كليلاتِ السُّعود تراوَحَتْ

    فيها بطيب نسيمها أَسحارها

    Handwriting like nights of good fortune, through which pass

    their predawn hours, bearing the sweetness of their breeze.

  39. هل تدري أيّ رويّة لك في الحجى

    ومن العجيب فديتك استحضارها

    Do you know what deliberative thought you possess in your intellect?

    Wondrous—may I be your ransom—is your summoning it.

  40. تأتي كسَيْل المزن حيث دعوتها

    وكجُودِ كفّك وافرٌ مدرارها

    It comes like a torrent from rainclouds wherever you summon it,

    and, like your hand's generosity, its outpouring is abundant.

  41. فلكم دجوت دُجنَّةً من مُشْكِلٍ

    ينجابُ فيك ظلامُها وأُوارها

    How often you have entered the darkness of a difficult problem,

    whose darkness and scorching heat clear away through you.

  42. وجَلَيْتَ فيه من العلوم عرائساً

    فأتاك من ملك الزَّمان نثارها

    In it you have unveiled brides of learning,

    and their bridal largesse came to you from the king of the age.

  43. قد زدتَ فيها رفعةً وتواضعاً

    وأرى الرِّجال يَشينُها استكبارها

    In this, you have grown in eminence and humility,

    while I see men disfigured by their arrogance.

  44. إنَّ الرَّزانةَ في النُّفوس ولم تطش

    نفسٌ وقار الرَّاسيات وقارها

    Composure resides in souls, and never has grown flighty

    a soul whose dignity is that of firmly rooted mountains.

  45. إنْ كنتَ مفتخراً بلبس علامةٍ

    فعُلاك يا شرف الوجود فخارها

    If you take pride in wearing an insignia,

    it is your eminence, O honor of existence, that is its pride.

  46. صِيغَتْ لعِزّك سيِّدي من جوهر

    حيث الجواهر أَنتَ أَنتَ بحارها

    It was fashioned for your glory, my master, from jewels,

    for you—you yourself—are the seas of jewels.

  47. فكأَنَّما من صَدرِك استخراجها

    أَو من جمالك أشْرَقتْ أنوارها

    It is as though it had been drawn from your breast,

    or its lights had shone forth from your beauty.

  48. لا زالَ يأخذ بالنواظر نورها

    لكنْ بأحشاء الحواسد نارها

    May its light forever captivate the eyes,

    while its fire burns within the entrails of the envious.

  49. إنَّ العناية أَقْبَلَتْ بجميع ما

    تهوى عليك وهذه آثارها

    Providence has come to you with all that

    you desire, and these are its signs.

  50. قتلت عداك بلوغُها وكأَنَّها

    قتلى العيون فلبس يُدركُ ثارها

    Its arrival has slain your enemies, as though they were

    slain by eyes, whose blood cannot be avenged.

  51. وكفاك إقرار العداة بما به

    قَرَّ الولاة ولم يفد إنكارها

    The enemies' acknowledgment suffices you concerning that which

    satisfied the rulers, while their denial availed nothing.

  52. ولقد خَلَقْتَ سماء كلّ فضيلةٍ

    طَلَعَتْ على آفاقها أقمارها

    You have indeed created a heaven for every virtue,

    whose moons have risen upon its horizons.

  53. هل في العراق ومن عليه ومن له

    منها وليس لأَلْفِهِمْ معشارها

    Is there in Iraq, among its inhabitants or those who possess it,

    any such virtue? Even a thousand of them have not a tenth of it.

  54. ولقد سَتَرْتَ على عوادي بلدةٍ

    لولاك لم يستر وحقّك عارها

    You have indeed covered a town's calamities;

    but for you, by your honor, its shame would never have been hidden.

  55. يا قطبَ دائرة الرئاسة والعلى

    أضحى يدور لأمره دوارها

    O axis of the circle of leadership and eminence,

    its revolving wheel now turns at his command.

  56. لحقت سوابقك الأُلى فسبقتهم

    بسوابقٍ ما شقَّ قط غبارها

    Your swift steeds caught up with the men of old, and you surpassed them

    with steeds whose dust no one has ever cleaved.

  57. خذها تغيظ الحاسدين قصيدةً

    ما ملَّ فيك أبا الثنا إكثارها

    Take this poem, to vex the envious;

    no one tires of its abundance in your praise, Abu al-Thana.

  58. لا زالت الأَيَّام توليك المنى

    وجرتْ على ما تشتهي أقدارها

    May the days never cease to grant you your wishes,

    and may their decrees run in accordance with your desires.